It looks like several kindergartens and nursery schools in Nishinomiya will be closing by 2028 (Reiwa 10).
(This information was provided by Iroha & Sasako from Nishi2 sp)
Quoted from Nishinomiya City’s Approach to Early Childhood Education and Childcare | Nishinomiya City Website
According to city documents linked from the page above, the following kindergartens and nursery schools are listed as scheduled to close.
- 南甲子園幼稚園
- 浜脇幼稚園
- 鳴尾東幼稚園
- 付属あおぞら幼稚園
- 上ヶ原幼稚園
- 瓦木みのり保育所
Let’s do a quick rundown.
南甲子園幼稚園
- Closing period: End of Reiwa 6 fiscal year (FY2024)
浜脇幼稚園
- Closing period: To be integrated with the establishment of a public certified childcare center scheduled to open in Reiwa 7 fiscal year (FY2025)
- Will be integrated with 浜脇保育所
鳴尾東幼稚園
- Closing period: To be integrated with the establishment of a public certified childcare center scheduled to open in Reiwa 9 fiscal year (FY2027)
- Will be integrated with 高須西保育所
付属あおぞら幼稚園
- Closing period: To be integrated with the establishment of a public certified childcare center scheduled to open in Reiwa 8 fiscal year (FY2026)
- Will be integrated with 芦原むつみ保育所
上ヶ原幼稚園
- Closing period: Undecided
瓦木みのり保育所
- Closure period: Undecided
- Will be integrated with 春風幼稚園
Why are they closing?
We’ll explain based on the reason why 浜脇幼稚園 and 浜脇保育所 are being brought together (integrated).
Current number of users:
- 浜脇幼稚園
- 5-year-olds: 19 children
- 4-year-olds: 7 children
- Total: 26 children
- 浜脇保育所
- Ages 0 to 5: Total 123 children
This is data on the number of children enrolled.
浜脇幼稚園 has especially many older children, while 浜脇保育所 has children of various ages.
To put it simply, the ages of the children are spread out.
In other words, combining them into one facility helps reduce the cost of maintaining facilities and staffing. That seems to be the idea.
The other integrations appear to be for basically the same reason. Operating costs come from taxes, so making things more efficient may be unavoidable.
Finally
The closures are happening because there are disparities in the number of children depending on the area, but the biggest factor seems to be money. Still, it’s sad when a kindergarten that you or your child attended disappears.
※Iroha & Sasako, thank you very much for the information!!
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